Celtics' bench isn't just bit players

BOSTON - When Paul Pierce and Boston's other starters need a rest in the NBA finals, they can watch their replacements with confidence.

BOSTON - When Paul Pierce and Boston's other starters need a rest in the NBA finals, they can watch their replacements with confidence.

Just as they did two years ago, when the Celtics won their 17th title by beating the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boston's key backups have changed since then. The importance of their contributions hasn't.

"Somewhere along the line these guys that are role players that people don't really talk about come along and help us win games," Pierce said. "They really get overlooked."

The Celtics, who return to practice today after a two-day break, have the same starting playoff five for Thursday night's opener at Los Angeles that they had the past two years.

That group has led them to playoff victories in five games over Miami and six each over Cleveland and Orlando this year. But through that run, substitutes Rasheed Wallace, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Tony Allen and Nate Robinson have had their moments.

Robinson's 13 second-quarter points in Friday night's 96-84 win over the Magic in Game 6.

In Boston's other 16 playoff games, coach Doc Rivers didn't use the 5-foot-9 leaper and long-range shooter in seven of them and played him for more than nine minutes just once.

"I told him at some point it was going to happen for him and it was all up to him to stay engaged," Rivers said.

Lakers' Bryantrises to the occasion

Among Kobe Bryant's myriad talents is what's known to opposing coaches simply as the "rise-up."

That's when Bryant has a defender blanketing him on the perimeter, obstructing his vision and physically preventing him from driving - yet Kobe simply leaps high enough and leans far enough forward or backward to release a perfect jumper anyway.

Bryant rose up against Grant Hill in the final minute of the Los Angeles Lakers' conference-clinching victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, putting his stamp on a 37-point performance.

Even with Hill right in his grill, Bryant leaped up and away from the veteran forward and drilled a 23-footer.

The basket essentially clinched the Lakers' victory, and Bryant punctuated it with a pat on Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry's derriere.